Two Teens Get Eight Year Sentences for Robbery and Kidnapping

Two seventeen year old boys accused of forcing their way into the home of a Smithville woman and then assaulting and robbing her in September, 2013 were sentenced in DeKalb County Criminal Court Monday.
Judge David Patterson presided.
Robert Brian Callahan, II and Tony J. Starkes, Jr. each pled guilty to charges of robbery and kidnapping and received a total sentence of eight years That’s four years for robbery and four years for kidnapping to run consecutively. They must serve at least 30% of the sentence before release eligibility. The teens were given credit for time served from September 18, 2013 to the present.
The boys appeared in DeKalb County Juvenile Court Wednesday, December 11, 2013 for a hearing on whether the cases should be transferred from the Juvenile to the Criminal Court. Judge Bratten Cook, II granted the motion.
Callahan and Starkes were indicted by the April, 2014 term of the grand jury as adult offenders.
According to Lieutenant Matt Holmes of the Smithville Police Department, the incident occurred around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 18, 2013 at the woman’s Smithville residence. He said the victim, who lived alone, heard something outside and when she opened the door to look outside, the two boys, who were wearing hockey masks forced their way in and assaulted her. ” Upon investigation, I found out that the victim heard a noise outside the back of her residence,” said Lieutenant Holmes. “She looked out but didn’t see anyone. She went to open the door. As she cracked the door open, two masked men forced their way into the residence. One of the suspects tackled her to the ground, pepper sprayed her multiple times, and tried to insert a wash cloth in her mouth to keep her from screaming,” he said. “One of the suspects ransacked the house and stole a 38 caliber revolver and multiple other items,” he said. The total value of the stolen items came to around $600.
The woman, though injured in the attack with cuts, scrapes, and bruises, was apparently not seriously hurt and declined medical attention.
Though the two boys were carrying razor knives at the time of the attack, they apparently did not use them on the woman.
“We worked the case until about four in the morning (Thursday, September 19) and started back again later in the day,” said Lieutenant Holmes. We went to Walmart and were able to trace the sale of the hockey masks back to the juveniles who had bought them prior to the incident,” he said.
” We located them (the two suspects) at the high school and placed them under arrest in the classroom on Thursday. Our fear was that they may have brought the gun to school but as it turned out they did not have the gun at school. It was found at their home,” said Lieutenant Holmes.
“We found in the attic of their residence the two hockey masks and a loaded 38 caliber handgun and other items that were taken from the victim’s home. We also found some pepper spray,” Lieutenant Holmes continued.
He said the boys, who lived together in the same household at the time of their arrests, are not related. Neither of the boys is related to the victim. The two boys lived in the same area of the city as the victim but police would not disclose the name of the street or neighborhood where the attack occurred.
Lieutenant Holmes, who was assisted in the investigation by Detective Brandon Donnell and Corporal Travis Bryant said police believe the two boys committed the crimes hoping to find money and drugs.
The two boys also allegedly tried to break into another residence in the same area the night before on Tuesday, September 17 but were unable to make entry.
In other cases, 52 year old Edward Judkins pled guilty to burglary and received a three year sentence on probation to be served concurrently with pending charges against him in Cannon County. He must make restitution of $1,500.
Sheriff Patrick Ray said that on November 20, 2013 Judkins allegedly broke into a shed at a residence on Adamson Branch Road. Entry was made by force and the door to the shed was damaged. Judkins allegedly took various weight equipment from the shed. The weight equipment was recovered from behind Judkins’ camper trailer where he lived on Pea Ridge Road. The case was investigated by a criminal detective of the Sheriff’s Department.
30 year old Roxanne Landis pled guilty to theft under $500. She was sentenced to time served and ordered to make restitution of $3.50 Smithville Police Chief Randy Caplinger said that on Thursday, January 23, Landis entered the Dollar General Store and took (shoplifted) items, which were recovered in her purse.
22 year old Lillie Dee Six pled guilty to two counts of theft under $500 and received a sentence of 11 months and 29 days in each case to run consecutively for a total of almost two years. She will be on supervised probation for the first year and unsupervised probation the second year of the sentence.